This invention relates to a vaccination process, which involves the simultaneous or consecutive use of a priming antigen, in this case the glycoprotein from a virus, such as HIV, SIV or any lentivirus capable of inducing AIDS in its natural host, or from an HTLV-I or HTLV-II type retrovirus, and an amplifying composition comprised of synthetic oligopeptides, which are free or bound to a carrier molecule, and in which the oligopeptides correspond to the neutralization epitopes for this same glycoprotein. This invention also relates to a composition for use in the process.
An effective vaccine composition against viruses must produce rapid neutralization of the viruses in order to prevent the viruses from possibly protecting themselves in a latent provirus form within the chromosomes of resting cells or from finding refuge in the cellular or tissue compartments where they would be beyond the reach of the immune system.
From previous experiments conducted with both chimpanzees in the case of HIV and macaques in the case of SIV, it is clear that inoculation of virus envelope glycoprotein alone does not make it possible to obtain a fully protective immune response. In particular, the virus envelope glycoprotein does not produce a sufficient level of neutralizing antibodies in order to provide protection against infection.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a method of inducing a sufficient level of neutralizing antibodies against virus infection in a host susceptible to the infection by the virus. In addition, there exists a need in the art for a pharmaceutical composition for use in the method.